The End of a Love: Part 1
by 4luv4evr428
Summary: **Read this story before Pt. 2!** Written in partnership with FF user GeneaLady...thank you for your inspiration and your own talent! The family comes to terms with illness and change.


I.

It was a cold February day. Ricky stood at the windows and watched Rick shovel snow from the driveway. Ricky knew that he would soon be looking to start his own life. He had turned 22 years old the week prior and had grown very handsome. Since Rick had made a regular job of performing at Club Babalu, Ricky knew how things needed to be when he was no longer around.

Ricky started to cough, prompting Lucy to scurry out of the kitchen. "Ricky, are you alright?" He turned to see her wiping her hands on a towel. "Yes, yes." He walked over to the sofa.

A month prior, when it had become apparent that Ricky was becoming ill, the family saw a specialist in New York. After a battery of tests, he was diagnosed with cancer of the lungs.

The news was a hard blow to Rick and Lucy, but Ricky went to work planning for the future. He seemed to face it with no fear for himself, or even for his son. He feared it for Lucy. Ethel had long gone back to New York after Fred passed away, maintaining the apartment building. He knew that she would be devastated when he passed, as he would be if the scenario were reversed. He had loved her from the very moment his eyes fell on her more than 30 years before. And now, even though he received treatments once a week, he knew time was not abundant, and he wanted to prepare her for the next stage of life without him.

Ricky sat on the sofa and Lucy sat beside him as Rick entered, shaking snow from his boots. "How're you doin', Dad?"

Ricky nodded. "I'm fine, son." Lucy was silent as she rested her hand in his.

Rick removed his gloves and sighed. "Mom, I won't be home for dinner tonight. I'm going to the club and I have a date."

Lucy smiled. "Oh? Anyone we know?"

Rick smirked. "No, I just met her myself."

"Ok. Be safe, darling." Lucy squeezed Ricky's hand, and Ricky called after his son. "Ricky, dun't forget to sign the payroll for the waiters and the kitchen."

"I will, Dad." Rick hurried upstairs to shower and get ready to catch the train.

Ricky turned to Lucy. "Honey, since he's not gonna be here, why dun't we go out for dinner?"

Lucy brightened. "Oh, Ricky, that sounds wonderful." Ricky kissed her hand and she started upstairs. "I'll go get ready."

II.

Ricky looked at himself in the mirror as he straightened his tie. A combination of age and illness had contributed to a few wrinkles in his face and the sweeping gray hair through his temples.

He turned as Lucy stepped out of the bathroom in a silky, flowing peach dress, a cream silk scarf moving gently behind her shoulders. For Ricky, she seemed never to age; her hair swept up in red curls, her slender figure still layered by soft white skin, her eyes as blue as the day they married.

"Oh, Lucy…" Ricky sighed and looked away.

Lucy frowned. "You don't like the dress?"

He turned quickly back to her. "It isn't that, darlin'. It's that you're still my gorgeous redhead…and you're married to an ol' man."

Lucy's eyes widened and she approached him, gently putting her arms around his neck. "Well, thank you for thinking I'm gorgeous, but I've done some aging of my own. Besides that…you're still my handsome Latin loverboy…"

Rick knocked on the door and popped his head in. "I'm leaving! See ya later!" Ricky and Lucy laughed and bid him goodbye as he popped out as quickly as he had appeared.

As the door downstairs slammed shut, Lucy looked back to Ricky. "That beautiful young man looks exactly like you."

Ricky chuckled. "He looks like me 30 years ago."

Lucy kissed Ricky's neck. "Remember when I was pregnant with him? You told me all the time that I was beautiful when I said I wasn't."

Ricky tightened his arms around her, taking in the familiar scent of her perfume. "That was different. You WERE beautiful, and I loved touchin' you."

"Do you still love touching me?" Lucy kissed his ear, whispering seductively.

Her words traveled into the ear that she had just kissed and down to his heart…and another part of his body, as well. He swiftly turned his face toward her, his nearly shoe-black eyes boring straight into hers.

"Lucy," he crooned, raising his hand and running the backs of his fingers against her ivory cheek. "Of course I love touchin' you…even more than on our weddin' night, if that's possible. I'll love touchin' you…" Ricky swallowed hard, his voice thick with emotion before he could finish the thought. "…'til the day I die."

Lucy's eyes, still locked with his, pooled with tears and they both shuddered slightly as though it had just dawned on them that the day he spoke of would come at least twenty years sooner than either of them even wanted to think about.

"Ricky…" Lucy whimpered as though she were a small child frightened awake by a nightmare.

At the helplessness he heard in his wife's voice, Ricky wrapped his arms around her as though trying to shelter and protect her from the awful truth that they both knew. With one hand, he gently guided her face, which had been buried in his neck, so that her eyes were again fixed on his. Ricky's eyes filled with tears of his own as he wiped those of his wife. Even the most horrible side effects of the cancer and the treatments could not compare to the heartbreak he felt knowing that his illness was killing Lucy's very soul.

Ricky leaned in and kissed her as his arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her tightly against him. He knew that words in any language would do nothing to console her, as she was already beginning to mourn the life she knew she was losing, so he just kissed her. The kiss was firm, yet sweet. Hungry and passionate. They'd shared thousands of kisses over the course of their marriage, but this was likely the most profound. It seemed to them to encompass every word they wanted to say, every emotion they could not express.

As Lucy's lips parted slightly, Ricky slipped his tongue into her mouth, gliding it over hers. They sighed and relaxed as they relished in the comfort and intimacy of the act.

Ricky continued the kiss as he moved one hand to lower the zipper on the back of Lucy's dress. She gasped softly, surprised a bit by his intentions. Their kiss parted long enough for the dress to slip away from her body, and Ricky stood back to admire her beauty. His eyes traveled to Lucy's face and he was never more thankful to see the smile that he found, not only on her cherry red lips, but in her bright blue eyes, as well.

For the moment, neither of them was thinking about Ricky's illness or the destruction it would leave in its wake. They were Mr. and Mrs. Ricky Ricardo, a husband and wife deeply in love, alone in the bedroom, about to express how much they meant to each other.

Ricky stepped forward and swooped his bride into his strong arms, causing Lucy to breathe his name worriedly. He just smiled and kissed her cheek. "Shhh, mi amor, I'm fine." He set her down gently on the bed before removing his tie and jacket and lay next to her. He knew he had done the right thing by leaving his dress shirt on when Lucy sat up with a smile and unbuttoned it with her delicate fingers; he knew she took as much pleasure in undressing him as he did undressing her.

He shrugged the shirt off his shoulders and drew in a small breath as Lucy's soft fingertips grazed his toned stomach and she pulled the undershirt over his head. He was bare chested except for the medal he always wore around his neck and her eyes roamed over his body appreciatively. For as much havoc as the cancer had ravaged inside his body, he looked the same as he did on their wedding night…at least he did in her perception.

Ricky captured her lips again and Lucy wrapped her arms lovingly around his neck as he deepened their kiss, their tongues moving together as waves of the ocean lapping upon a sandy shore.

When Lucy sighed happily, Ricky rolled over, sliding her down on the bed. The red curls that he loved so much fanned out on the crisp white pillowcase. He hovered over her as they kissed, then moved his lips to the side of her face, ravaging her earlobe and neck with kisses, eliciting sweet purrs from Lucy that only encouraged him further.

Ricky smiled as he paused near her ear, his hands smoothing over her bare skin. "Eres tan bella. Mis manos solo pueden tocar tu piel hermosa..."

He lifted her torso up toward his own chest and unhooked the back of her bra, sliding it down her arms. As he lay her down again, he lowered his head to look at her and slipped the panties from the curve of her hips, swooning over her again. "Mis ojos solo pueden ver tu, mi belleza, mi amor, mi reina..."

Now able to take in his wife's body completely, Ricky was overwhelmed. It was common knowledge that he always thought of Lucy as the most beautiful woman in the world, so he never became overly emotional about it. However, the intense feelings he was experiencing today became too much for him and his eyes pooled with tears. "Lucy, darlin', you…are absolutely gorgeous."

Deeply touched by his declaration of love, Lucy's eyes also swam with tears and she reached up to stroke his cheek. "Oh, Ricky…"

Ricky lowered himself to her and kissed her as he kicked off pants and boxer shorts. Determined to love every inch of his wife's body, he began placing kisses of devotion on her forehead, cheeks and nose. He kissed her lips firmly with passion, and his tongue was soon begging for entrance. He released a soft moan as Lucy's tongue met with his, and his hands moved slowly down her neck and shoulders.

When the need to take a breath became urgent, Ricky began kissing and suckling her ear and neck. He swelled with pride when his kisses drew a cry of pure love and pleasure from Lucy's lips.

Not wanting to bruise her creamy white skin with his firm kisses, Ricky's lips brushed her skin as he moved down to her breasts. He cupped one in his hand while his tongue ran along the other, sucking the firm nipple, before reversing his attention.

When he felt that he had given them a satisfying amount of pleasure, he ran his tongue again between her breasts and down to her navel. When he reached it, Ricky swirled his tongue inside and nibbled it gently, eliciting a wonderful noise, somewhere between a soft moan and a giggle, from Lucy.

Leaving a soft kiss on her stomach, he continued to descend her body until he reached the dark brown curls between her thighs. Breathing in her sweet, feminine scent, he bent her knees upward, lowered his head and gently entered her wet center with his warm tongue as Lucy tossed her head back. Knowing his wife better than he knew anything in the world, he quickly found the spot inside her which would lead to her wonderful release. As his tongue moved, he slowly introduced one, then two fingers to aid in his task. Before long, she was gasping and writhing, her cheeks flushed, her back arched.

Lucy ran her fingers through her husband's now greying, but thick wavy hair as she began to quiver with her orgasm. Knowing that she was reaching her peak, Ricky quickened his pace and she began to cry out in pleasure, breathlessly reciting his name. "Ricky…oh, Ricky, yes! Ricky!" Her cries brought him its own level of satisfaction.

As her body finally calmed to a gentle tremble, Ricky finished drinking her in before returning to her side, gathering her in his arms and purring to her again. "Nada me trae mas placer que te hace feliz, mi amor."

Ricky kissed her again and in spite of her rather intense orgasm, Lucy was soon flooded with passion once again. She gently broke the kiss and whispered into his ear. "Ricky…please…make love to me…"

A broad smile crossed Ricky's lips as he lowered her onto her back and hovered over her, staring at her a moment before slowly slipping his hard shaft inside her. When he was completely inside her, Lucy sighed happily, as one would after taking a sip of cold lemonade on a hot summer day.

Ricky kissed her passionately as he began to move inside his wife's body and she wrapped her legs firmly around his waist, bringing her body as close to his as possible. As they moved together, their cries increased in intensity. Soon, they both felt their climaxes approaching and shuddered against each other.

As they calmed, they fell limp against each other, and Ricky held Lucy, rubbing her back to bring her breathing to normal. Their lips found each other again, each wanting more as though they'd been hopelessly starved for the other.

As they kissed, Lucy's hand moved down his chest. Ricky moaned softly as he felt her fingers trace over the muscles of his stomach and descended further to circle his growing erection.

Lucy's lips broke from his and started on the same path downward. She rolled Ricky onto his back and his heart began to race as her warm tongue grazed his skin. He sighed with pleasure as he felt her hot breath on him for just a moment before his shaft became enveloped by the moist heat of her mouth. Soon, Ricky began to tremble and she released him from her mouth.

He gently pulled her toward him and flipped her underneath him. With only a moment's hesitation, Ricky entered her again, thrusting her into the heights of pleasure. Before long, the pleasured cries of husband and wife echoed off the walls of their bedroom.

Like two halves of a whole, Ricky and Lucy began to tremble in climax simultaneously, and they held each other as though their lives depended on it. Ricky lingered inside her, wanting to prolong their physical connection. But the inevitable came and he involuntarily withdrew from her.

Suddenly empty, and coming to the realization that what they'd just shared was likely the last time they'd be able to demonstrate this ultimate expression of love, in this way that they had known for more than thirty years, a look of pure fright came over Lucy's face and she drew in a deep breath.

At first, Ricky wondered frantically what could be wrong with her, but one look at the heartbreak in her eyes, and he understood. At a loss for words, he gathered his wife into his arms as she began to sob. The body which, moments ago, had quaked in pleasure, was now quaking with grief. It was then that he remembered something she had told him several times over the years of their marriage. She had told him that while she never understood it, she'd never felt more loved than when he whispered to her in Spanish.

So that's what he did.

"Aye, Lucy. Yo te adoro y te amo tanto que la muerte no puede separarme de ti. Que parte de los votos matrimoniales no se aplica a nosotros." Small tears moistened the corners of Ricky's eyes as she continued to cry. "Tue eres mi amor para siempre. No puedo imaginar lo que podria haber vivido esta vida sin ti y el hijo que habia dado a mi."

Ricky poured his heart out to her in hushed Spanish as he slowly rubbed her back. Even after Lucy had cried herself to sleep in his arms, his proclamations of love and devotion continued. And when the sunlight of the early morning hours began streaming in through the window several hours later, she awakened to the sound of his hushed voice, now hoarse from use, still whispering into her ear with his signature Latin charm.


End file.
